Spanish star ended up the loser but he will always be a thorn in the winner's side

Rafael Nadal might have lost yesterday but he still has a special hold on Roger Federer. He is the only guy who has a positive record against Federer and his defeat yesterday is not going to do anything to that.

The final at Wimbledon was much closer than the final at the French Open, so I still believe that, even though Nadal lost, he still has that little edge over Federer. Also, Federer's victory has nothing to do with any other match that he will play against Nadal in the future; it will not affect their rivalry for the next two, three, four or five years.

Federer always has belief that he can beat Nadal. He doesn't walk on court thinking he might lose, so that is not going to change. But sometimes you have spells when two players play each other and one doesn't like to come up against the other because he has a poor record against him.

I always had a very positive record against Pete Sampras and when I went on court I had the feeling that I knew he didn't like to play against me. I had a game that Sampras didn't like and Nadal will always think that he has a game that Federer doesn't really like, either. That will always give him an edge over Federer. Overall Federer is still the more successful player and the more complete player, but Nadal is very young, so he's still learning and he was close this year.

It could easily have been two sets to one to Nadal in the final and then it would have been a completely different game. I can certainly see the Spaniard winning Wimbledon one day because he's a believer. He believes he can beat Federer and his performance in the final will give him even more belief.

There is no doubt that he unsettles Federer. He manages to do that because he plays at the same pace and he never gives up. Federer doesn't come up against any other player who plays at that pace. Federer went through the tournament playing pretty easily, even though he had a difficult draw, but Nadal makes Federer play by his rules.

He makes Federer stay at the baseline, he makes him run from left to right and then Nadal dictates his points with his big forehand. He has also improved his backhand a lot, especially on grass, and he can hit winners with his backhand which no one would have expected to happen.

Federer just can't be on top of Nadal like he is used to with the other players and that makes it difficult for him. He couldn't really get to grips with the way Nadal was dictating every single point. Nadal just puts so much pressure on Federer, so he's being pushed back behind the baseline and he then started to play too defensively compared to the other matches he played. But at the end of the day he still won and all the great champions can do that even when they are not playing their best. That really shows just what a great player Roger is.

And Federer was the better grass-court player overall. If you miss an easy volley on match point you can talk about missed chances, but the way the match went in general Federer was a little bit better than Nadal. He is strong mentally and when he was two sets to one up there was no reason to believe that he would have started thinking negatively, casting his mind back to the French Open or worrying that the match might start slipping away from him. You don't come up with the idea in the fourth set that "maybe I'm going to lose this".

One thing is for sure their rivalry is really great. It is up there with McEnroe and Bjorg and Sampras and Agassi. There's no doubt that they're the best tennis players at the moment and Nadal is really pushing him, which Federer will like. He doesn't want Nadal out of his system. It's about winning grand slams but it's also about having a rival where you always have to play your best tennis to beat him. It improves his game and he knows that he has to play better than he does with all the other guys and that's the challenge.

Their match yesterday was not one of the great finals we have seen at Wimbledon. It just came down to a couple of points, maybe in the fourth set with the break-point that Federer won when Rafael missed that easy forehand volley. Also Federer knew he had to serve really well to stay in the match and to win the match. He got almost 70% of first serves in and that secured the match for him. But Nadal made it tough for Roger and he will do so in the future.

Federer has now won four Wimbledon titles in a row, which is a great achievement and he gets into that group with Sampras and Bjorg, the only two players in the modern era to have done that. To defend your title is so difficult so to do that four years in a row is incredible. But I don't think that Federer has the competition that Sampras had or Bjorg had in his time. For that reason I would have to say that Sampras, with his seven titles, is still the greatest grass-court player ever.